What should classic 2D games look like in HD?

[Matt]

All very nice, but, er, they're just pieces of concept art, nothing more. They've no relevance to "2D games in HD", there's no consideration of rendering techniques in the artwork, animation, anything at all He's just made some very appealing pictures. And we thought the KillZone2 CG trailer was bull**** enough....

I'd like to see more 2D games. You couldn't hope to animate these kind of HD 2D sprites in any real quantity, it would take forever. The best bet to get some of these classics in HD would be go the LBP way - 3D graphics, 2D playing area.

[Tig]

Yeah, they're getting all the details and stuff, but that still doesn't preserve the game's soul.

hmm.. it's true.
I think the reason is that higher resolutions actually take something away.. They take away from the level of abstraction. And abstraction is what pokes the imagination into life a lot of the time.

It's like what Scott Mccloud says in his book about comics.... Increased detail objectifies, whereas symbolic things create viewer identification.
So the abstraction of old-school pixel art is partly what made those games look engaging in the first place.


case in point: I'm still not sure I prefer Cave Story's Wii sprites to the originals. hmm.

But I know I prefer wayforward's take on A Boy and His Blob to the original, because like the images posted above, they haven't 'remained faithful' but have instead reimagined it fully with an artistic eye.

The best bet to get some of these classics in HD would be go the LBP way - 3D graphics, 2D playing area.

definately. I can really see that Zelda LttP mockup being made that way.


...now I want it

[Leon Retro]

Oh boy.... those CGI renders of classic scenes are disgusting. I nearly puked.

I think it will take something really exceptional to be able to make 2D games look better than they did in the 16-bit days. A way of drawing 2D that we haven't seen yet.

All the modern remakes and 2D games( SF:HD, Braid etc.. ) .. have done things wrong. The visuals look more flat and lacking in soul, compared to the best 2D games of yesteryear. The way modern devs go about making 2D games is not good. All the games look cheap - even though.. they are in hi-def with more colours. I used to think that modern tech would allow for better 2D games, but... most current 2D stuff is very poor.

The only 2D game series this decade that has been spot-on in the visuals department is ViewtifulJoe 1&2. The artists made the visuals look a bit grimy/dirty and far from glossy. It gave the games a sort of old-school charm, but also a modern chic. I would rate the Viewtiful series as having the best modern 2D visuals.

It takes more than hi-res and fancy rendering packages to make nice visuals. A lot of modern 2D games look cheap and lame; like internet FLASH games. I see little artistic soul and flair in most modern 2D games. Even Braid, which gets a lot of respect, looks like an old dodgy Amiga platformer in hi-def. I find Sonic on the MegaDrive to look betteR than Braid.

[Psyduck]

viewtiful joe was 3d.